Data communication apparatus connected to external information processing terminal through interface

ABSTRACT

In the communication between a facsimile apparatus and an information processing terminal, the communication of status information of the facsimile apparatus is efficiently effected and an operation efficiency of the apparatus is improved. In response to a command from the information processing terminal, information indicating a change in the status of the facsimile apparatus is set in a response transmitted from the facsimile apparatus to the information processing terminal, and the information processing terminal conducts a communication request of the status information of the facsimile apparatus in accordance with the information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a data communication apparatusconnected to an external information processing terminal through aninterface.

[0003] 2. Related Background Art

[0004] A facsimile communication system in which a facsimile apparatusand an external information terminal are connected through an interfaceto form the facsimile communication system, and the facsimiletransmission is commanded from the external information processingterminal to the facsimile apparatus or a document prepared on theexternal information processing terminal is printed out by the facsimileapparatus, has recently been widely used. Further, a system in which anexternal information processing terminal having a facsimile apparatusconnected thereto is connected to a LAN (local area network) to allow anoperation similar to that of the facsimile apparatus from a plurality ofinformation processing terminals has become populated. In such afacsimile communication system, the IEEE P1284 which is a bilateralparallel interface has been widely used as an interface to connect thefacsimile apparatus and the external information processing terminal. Inthe facsimile communication system which adopts the IEEE P1284 as theinterface, the data exchange with command and response is started bysending a command from the external information processing terminalwhich serves as a host, and the facsimile apparatus which serves as aperipheral device merely returns a response to a command from the host.Under this environment, information as to whether the facsimileapparatus is in transmission, in reception or in an abnormal conditionis informed from the facsimile apparatus to the external informationprocessing terminal by issuing from the external information processingterminal a command to acquire the status of the facsimile apparatus.

[0005] However, in the prior art system, when the facsimile apparatus ofthe facsimile communication system is in the transmission state or thereception state, information such as the exhaustion of record sheets oran error in the printer cannot be informed until the inquiry is made bythe external information processing terminal to the facsimile apparatusabout the status of the record sheets and the printer after thecompletion of the transmission or reception being processed. In order tosolve the above problem, the external information processing terminalmust sequentially inquire to the facsimile apparatus about anticipatedevents such as the exhaustion of the record sheets at any time duringthe operation such as in the transmission or in the reception. It isvery troublesome and the process that should be executed in the externalinformation processing terminal increases, a system throughput isreduced, and an operation efficiency is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide a datacommunication apparatus in light of the above problems.

[0007] It is another object of the present invention to allow efficienttransmission of information on the data communication apparatus with aninformation processing terminal.

[0008] Other objects of the present invention will be apparent from thefollowing detailed description of the embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009]FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a configuration of a facsimilecommunication system in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention,

[0010]FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a control operation of a CPU 101 of afacsimile apparatus,

[0011]FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a process executed by an informationprocessing terminal,

[0012]FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a control operation of the CPU 101 ofthe facsimile apparatus,

[0013]FIGS. 5A and 5B, combined as FIG. 5, show flow charts of a controloperation of the CPU 101 of the facsimile apparatus,

[0014]FIGS. 6A and 6B, combined as FIG. 6, show flow charts of a controloperation of the CPU 101 of the facsimile apparatus, and

[0015]FIG. 7 shows status information of the facsimile apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] An embodiment of the present invention is now explained in detailwith reference to the drawings.

[0017] In the embodiment, a facsimile communication system in which aninformation processing terminal (personal computer or the like) and afacsimile apparatus are connected through a bilateral parallel interfaceis explained.

[0018]FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a configuration of the facsimilecommunication system of the present embodiment.

[0019] A CPU 101 is a system control unit which controls the overallfacsimile apparatus through a system bus 117 and it comprises amicrocomputer. A ROM 102 stores a control program and an operatingsystem (OS) program of the CPU 101. A RAM 103 comprises an SRAM andstores program control variables. Settings registered by an operator,system management data and various working buffers are also stored inthe RAM 103. An image memory 104 comprises a DRAM and stores image data.In the present embodiment, the control program stored in the ROM 102 isexecuted by software control such as scheduling or task switching undercontrol of the OS stored in the ROM 102.

[0020] A console unit (or operation unit) 105 comprises various keys,LEDs and LCDs and allows various entry operations by an operator andconducts the display of an operation status of the facsimilecommunication system.

[0021] A read control unit 107 comprises a CS (contact type) imagesensor and a document sheet feed mechanism. The read control unit 107optically reads a document sheet by using the CS image sensor, convertsit to an electrical image data, applies thereto various image processingsuch as a binarization process and a gray level process by an imageprocessing control unit 108, and outputs highly fine image data. Theconverted image data is coded in accordance with a predetermined codingscheme through a read recording code/decode control unit 112 and it isstored in the image memory 104.

[0022] A record control unit 114 comprises a page printer and a recordimage processing control unit. The record control unit 114 decodes imagedata to be recorded by the read recording code/decode control unit 112,applies a smoothing process and a record density correction processthereto by image processing control unit to convert it to highly fineimage data and outputs it to the page printer.

[0023] A communication control unit 109 comprises a modem and modulatesand demodulates facsimile transmission/reception signals. An NCU(network control unit) 110 sends a selection signal (dial pulse or tonedial signal) to an analog communication line (PSTN) 116, detects a callsignal from the communication line and controls a line of automaticreception control. The image data stored in the image memory 104 isdecoded by a communication code/decode processing unit 111, andmillimeter-inch conversion and magnify/reduce processing are conductedby a resolution conversion processing unit 106. The resolution-convertedimage is coded by the communication code/decode processing unit 111 inaccordance with an ability of a destination station, and it istransmitted.

[0024] An I/F control unit 115 conducts interface control with anexternally connected information processing terminal (FAX server) 118.In the present embodiment, it conforms to a parallel interface such asthe bilateral Centronics Interface (parallel interface which conforms tothe IEEE P1284).

[0025] Remote operations such as transmission from the FAX server 118 tothe facsimile apparatus, the print and the data registration areconducted by transmitting predetermined command parameter data to thefacsimile apparatus through the I/F control unit 115. In the presentembodiment, application software and driver software for controlling theremote operations and remote operation requests are installed in the FAXserver 118.

[0026] An operation of the above arrangement is now explained.

[0027]FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a control operation of the CPU 101 ofthe facsimile apparatus of the present embodiment. A program forexecuting the control operation shown in the flow chart is stored in theROM 102 as described above.

[0028] First, when the facsimile apparatus is started, the CPU 101resets an area on the RAM 103 representing the status of the apparatus(S201). Then, the apparatus status monitoring (the monitoring of thepresence/absence of the record sheets, the record sheet size, theexecution status of the facsimile apparatus and an error status of theapparatus) is started (S202), and the process shifts to a wait status(S203). The CPU 101 determines whether a change has occurred in theapparatus status by the apparatus status monitoring (S204). If a changehas occurred in the apparatus status, the information of apparatusstatus change is held in the RAM (S205), and the information of theapparatus status is also stored in the RAM (S206). If no change occursin the apparatus status, the steps S205 and S206 are skipped.

[0029] Then, whether a command has been received from the externalinformation processing terminal 118 or not is determined (S207). If thecommand has not been received, the steps S203 to S207 are repeatedlyexecuted. If the command is received from the external informationprocessing terminal 118, whether the command is one to inquire thestatus of the facsimile apparatus or not is determined (S208). If it isthe command to inquire the apparatus status, the information of theapparatus status stored in the RAM is set as a responseparameter.(S209), a response to the apparatus status inquiry command isset (S210), the apparatus status change information on the RAM is erased(S211) and a response is sent to the external information processingterminal 118 through the I/F control unit 115 (S216). If the receivedcommand is not the apparatus status inquiry command, a process for thereceived command is executed (S212) and a response (OK/NG) for thecommand is set (S213). The CPU 101 checks the presence or absence of theapparatus status change information on the RAM (S214), and if theapparatus status has been changed, the apparatus status changeinformation is added to the response set in the step S213, and theapparatus status change information is erased from the RAM (S215). Ifthe apparatus status has not been changed in the step S214, the processproceeds from S214 to S216 to send a response to the externalinformation processing terminal 118 through the I/F control unit 115.When the response is sent, the process returns to the waiting state(S203).

[0030] An operation of the external information processing terminal 118in the present embodiment is now explained.

[0031]FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a process operation of the externalinformation processing terminal 118 in the present embodiment. Theprocess operation shown in the flow chart is executed by a computerapplication program stored in a hard disk or the RAM of the informationprocessing terminal (computer) by software control under the OS.

[0032] First, the information processing terminal 118 shifts to the waitstate as the interface control with the facsimile apparatus (S301), andcauses the facsimile apparatus to send an apparatus status inquirycommand (S302). If then receives a response to the apparatus statusinquiry command from the facsimile apparatus through the interface(S303) and determines whether the apparatus status is normal or not(S304). If the facsimile apparatus status is normal, and abnormaldisplay, if any, on the display of the information processing terminalis erased (S305). If the facsimile apparatus is abnormal, the abnormalstate of the facsimile apparatus is displayed on the display (S306).Then, a process corresponding to the response received from thefacsimile apparatus is executed (S307).

[0033] Then, whether an event to the facsimile apparatus has occurred bythe operation of the console unit (keyboard or pointing device) of theexternal information processing terminal 118 or not is determined, andif the event has not occurred, the process returns to S301. If the eventto the facsimile apparatus has occurred, the facsimile apparatus iscaused to send a command corresponding to that event through theinterface (S309). A reception process of the response to the sentcommand is executed (S310), and when the response is received, whetherthe apparatus status change information has been added to the receivedresponse or not is determined (S311). If the apparatus status changeinformation has been added to the received response, the facsimileapparatus is caused to send an apparatus status inquiry command (S312).When a response to the apparatus status inquiry command is received fromthe facsimile apparatus (S313), whether the facsimile apparatus is in anormal state or not is determined based on the received response (S314),and if the facsimile apparatus is in the normal state, the abnormaldisplay, if any, on the display is erased (S315). If the facsimileapparatus is in the abnormal state, the abnormal state of the facsimileapparatus is displayed on the display (S316). Then, whether the event iscompleted or not is determined (S317), and if the event has not beencompleted, the command for that event is continuously sent (S309), andif the event is completed, the process returns to the wait state (S301).

[0034] In S311, if the status change of the facsimile apparatus is notincluded, whether the event has been completed or not is determined(S317), and if the event is not completed, the command is continuouslysent (S309), and if the event is completed, the process returns to thewait state (S301.).

[0035] In the above process, when the external information processingterminal 118 recognizes the status change of the facsimile apparatus,the apparatus status inquiry command is immediately sent. Alternatively,the external information processing terminal 118 may send the apparatusstatus inquiry command to the facsimile apparatus after the completionof the execution of the currently executed event.

[0036] Further, detailed information of the status of the facsimileapparatus may be included in the information added in the response sentby the facsimile apparatus, and the external information processingterminal 118 may first check the presence or absence of the statuschange, and if it is determined that the apparatus status changeinformation has been added, the detailed status information of thefacsimile apparatus added to the response may be analyzed so that thesending of the apparatus status inquiry command may be omitted.

[0037] In the description of the flow chart of FIG. 2, the detail of thedetection of the status change executed by the facsimile apparatus isnot described. Referring to FIGS. 4, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B and 7, the scannerunit (read control unit 107) of the facsimile apparatus, the printerunit (record control unit 114), the detection of the communicationstatus and the notice of the information are explained in detail.

[0038]FIGS. 4, 5A and 5B show flow charts of control operations of theCPU 101. A program for executing such control operation is stored in theROM 102.

[0039] Referring to the flow chart of FIG. 4, the processes to acquirethe status of the scanner unit and the printer unit and thecommunication status are explained.

[0040] The CPU 101 of the facsimile apparatus periodically acquires thestatus information of the scanner unit (read control unit 107) and theprinter unit (record control unit 114) (S401). FIG. 7 shows detaileditems of the information of the apparatus status (information to beacquired) stored in a predetermined area of the RAM. The information tobe acquired includes the presence or absence of a document sheet on anADF (automatic document sheet feeder), information on the width of thedocument sheet, the presence or absence of a cassette in the printerunit (record control unit 114), the record sheet size, the presence orabsence of the record sheet, the open/close state of the cover of theprinter unit and the communication status (communication phase status)information. The acquired information is compared with the informationstored in the RAM prior to the acquisition to determine whether thenewly acquired information is different from the information stored inthe RAM (S402), and if it is different from the previously storedinformation, the newly acquired information is written into apredetermined area of the RAM of the facsimile apparatus, and a noticeinformation (apparatus status change information) flag for indicatingthat the information to be noticed to the external informationprocessing terminal 118 connected to the facsimile apparatus is presentis set (S403). If there is no change in the acquired information, theprocess returns from S402 to the wait state.

[0041] The process shown in the flow chart of FIG. 4 is periodicallystarted by a timer and periodically executed by the CPU 101.

[0042]FIGS. 5A and 5B show flow charts of a control operation of the CPU101 of the facsimile apparatus when a command is received from theexternal information processing terminal 118, and a program forexecuting such control operation is stored in ROM 102.

[0043] When the CPU 101 of the facsimile apparatus detects the receptionof the command from the external information processing terminal 118(S501), it determines whether the received command is a noticeinformation acquire command (apparatus status inquiry command) foracquiring the notice information (status information) possessed by thefacsimile apparatus or not (S502). If the received command is the noticeinformation acquire command, whether the notice information flag hasbeen set or not is determined (S503), and if the notice information flaghas been set, the notice information of the RAM of FIG. 7 is set to theresponse as a response parameter (S504). Whether all notice informationhave been set in the parameters of the response of the noticeinformation acquire command or not is determined (S505), and ifunnoticed notice information remains, “ATN” indicating the unnoticedinformation is set (S506) in addition to the “OK” response for thenotice information acquire command, the response is sent to the externalinformation processing terminal 118 through the I/F control unit 115(S507), and the process stands by the reception of the next command(S508). In S505, if all notice information have been set in the responseparameters, the “OK” response to the notice information acquire commandis set (S509), the notice information flag is reset (S510), and theprocess proceeds to the sending of the response.

[0044] In S503, if the notice information flag has not been set, “NG” isset as the response to the notice information acquire command (S511) andthe process proceeds to the sending of the response (S507).

[0045] In S502, if the received command is not the notice informationacquire command, a process for the received command is executed (S512),whether the notice information flag has been set or not is determined(S513), and if the notice information flag has been set, “ATN”indicating that the unnoticed notice information is present is set inthe response (OK/NG/BUSY) for the received command (S514), and theprocess proceeds to the sending of the response (S507). In S513, if thenotice information flag has not been set, the response (OK/NG/BUSY) tothe received command is set (S515) and the process proceeds to thesending of the response (S507).

[0046] If the command is not received, the process continuously waits tostand by the reception of the command from the external informationprocessing terminal 118.

[0047] In the above process, when the unnoticed notice information(apparatus status information) is present, the facsimile apparatus sendsthe unnoticed notice information to the external information processingterminal 118. Accordingly, the information once noticed to the externalinformation processing unit 118 is no longer noticed. When theinformation processing terminal detects that “ATN” indicating thepresence of the unnoticed information is set in the response, it canrecognize the change of the status of the facsimile apparatus so that itsends the notice information acquire command to the facsimile apparatusand acquires the changed status information. The information processingterminal holds the notice information received from the facsimileapparatus in the memory, and it is updated by the received noticeinformation so that it may recognize the status of the facsimileapparatus by the notice information in the memory. The informationprocessing terminal sends the notice information acquire command forconfirming the status of the facsimile apparatus to the facsimileapparatus, and when it receives the “NG” response, it recognizes thatthe facsimile apparatus status has not been changed from the noticeinformation in the memory and determines that the notice information inthe memory is the current facsimile apparatus status. When there is achange in the facsimile status, the changed status information ismanaged as the unnoticed notice information and the unnoticed noticeinformation is set to the response for the notice information acquirecommand from the external information processing terminal 118 so thatthe status information of the facsimile apparatus is communicatedefficiently.

[0048]FIGS. 6A and 6B show flow charts of the status information acquireprocess of the scanner unit (read control unit 107) and the printer unit(record control unit 114) executed by the CPU 101. A control program forexecuting the process shown in the flow chart is stored in the ROM 102.

[0049] Usually, in the scanner unit, a sensor for detecting the presenceor absence of the document sheet and a sensor for detecting the documentsheet width are separate ones, and when the presence of the documentsheet is detected by the document sheet sensor, the document sheet widthdetection output currently outputted by the document sheet width sensoris acquired as the document sheet width information. Thus, when thedocument sheet is set, “presence of document sheet” information isgenerated, and then the output of the document sheet width sensor isidentified and the “document sheet width” information is acquired fromthe identification result. Those two information may be concurrentlynoticed to the external information processing terminal and theconcurrent notice leads to the improvement of the system throughput.Similarly, as to the record sheet cassette, the information on thepresence or absence of cassette, the presence or absence of record sheetand the record sheet size are concurrently noticed to the externalinformation processing terminal 118 for the respective cassettes of thefacsimile apparatus.

[0050] In the present embodiment, the periodic acquisition of the statusinformation of the scanner unit and the printer unit determines thepresence or absence of the document sheet in the ADF based on the outputfrom the document sheet sensor (S601), and if the document sheet ispresent, whether the status has been changed from the absence ofdocument sheet to the presence of document sheet or not (S602). If thestatus has been changed from the absence of document sheet to thepresence of document sheet, the output of the document sheet widthsensor of the ADF is checked (S603), then “ADF document sheet present”information and the document sheet width information based on the outputof the document sheet width sensor of the ADF are stored in the RAM(S604), and the notice information flag indicating that the noticeinformation to the connected external information processing terminal118 is present is set (S605).

[0051] In S601, if the document sheet is absent in the ADF, whether thestatus has been changed from the presence of document sheet to theabsence of document sheet or not is determined (S615). If the status hasbeen changed from the presence of document sheet to the absence ofdocument sheet, “ADF document sheet absent” information is stored in theRAM (S616), and the notice information flag is set (S605).

[0052] Without regard to the presence or absence of the document sheetin the ADF, the status information on the ADF is not acquired unlessthere is a change in the detection status of the document sheet (S602,S615).

[0053] The CPU 101 then moves to the acquiring of information on therecord sheet cassette of the printer unit. Assuming that the number ofrecord sheet cassettes loadable to the facsimile apparatus is three, thesame process is repeated for the cassette 1 to the cassette 3 to acquirethe record sheet cassette information. First, the CPU 101 set theparameter n of the cassette to 1 (S606) to determine whether thecassette 1 has been loaded to the facsimile apparatus or not (S607). Ifthe cassette 1 has been loaded to the facsimile apparatus, whether theset status of the cassette 1 has been changed from the cassette notloaded to the cassette loaded or not is determined based on theinformation in the RAM (S608), and if the cassette 1 status has beenchanged from the cassette not loaded to the cassette loaded, the recordsheet size of the cassette 1 is detected (S609) and the presence orabsence of the record sheet of the cassette 1 is detected (S610), basedon the output from the sensor (S609). The “cassette 1 loaded”information, the cassette 1 record sheet size information and theinformation on the presence or absence of the records sheet are storedin the RAM (S611), and the notice information flag is set (S612).

[0054] In S607, if the cassette 1 has not been loaded, whether thecassette 1 load status has been changed from the cassette loaded to thecassette not loaded or not (S617), and if the cassette 1 load status hasbeen changed from the cassette loaded to the cassette not loaded, the“cassette 1 not loaded” information is stored in the RAM (S618) and thenotice information flag is set (S612).

[0055] Without regard to the presence or absence of the cassette 1, thestatus information on the cassette 1 is not acquired unless there is achange in the load status of the cassette 1, and whether the parameter nof the cassette is smaller than three (whether the cassette informationhas been acquired for the cassette 1 to the cassette 3) or not isdetermined (S613), and if the cassette parameter n is smaller thanthree, the parameter n is incremented (S614) and the above process (S607to S612, S617, S618) are executed for the cassettes 2 and the cassette 3to acquire the information on the presence or absence of record sheetcassette loadable to the facsimile apparatus, the record sheet size andthe presence or absence of record sheet, and then the process isterminated.

[0056] The process for the facsimile apparatus to receive the commandfrom the connected external information processing terminal 118 andindicate the presence of the notice information to the externalinformation processing terminal 118 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 5Aand 5B.

[0057] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments describedabove but various modifications thereof may be made.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data communication apparatus for receiving acommand from an external information processing terminal, transmitting aresponse for the received command to said information processingterminal and executing a process corresponding to the command,comprising: status monitor means for monitoring apparatus status; andmeans for transmitting information on the apparatus status upontransmission of said response in accordance with the status monitoringby said status monitor means.
 2. A data communication apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein the information on the apparatus status isinformation indicating a change of the apparatus status.
 3. A datacommunication apparatus according to claim 1 further comprising: storagemeans for storing the apparatus status detected by said status monitormeans and information indicating whether the apparatus status has beenchanged or not; wherein the information on the apparatus status istransmitted when the information indicating the change of the apparatusstatus has occurred is stored in said storage means upon thetransmission of said response.
 4. A data communication apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein said response includes informationindicating whether said command is to be accepted or not.
 5. A datacommunication apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the information onthe apparatus status is information on the apparatus status detected bysaid status monitor means.
 6. A data communication apparatus accordingto claim 2 wherein a status request command for requesting thetransmission of information on the apparatus status from saidinformation processing terminal is received, and in response to saidstatus request command, the information on the apparatus status detectedby said status monitor means is transmitted.
 7. A data communicationapparatus according to claim 5 wherein the information on the apparatusstatus includes information on status of a data input unit in said datacommunication apparatus, information on status of a data output unit andinformation on operation status of said data communication apparatus. 8.A data communication apparatus according to claim 6 wherein a responseindicating the absence of status information to be noticed istransmitted to said information processing terminal when there is nochange in the apparatus status upon the reception of the status requestcommand.
 9. A data communication apparatus according to claim 3 whereinsaid status monitor means periodically monitors the change of theapparatus status, and upon detection of the change of the apparatusstatus, stores information indicating the change of the apparatus statusin said storage means.
 10. A processing method in an informationprocessing terminal for transmitting a command to cause a datacommunication apparatus to execute a desired process and receiving aresponse indicating whether said command is acceptable or not from saiddata communication apparatus, comprising the steps of: detecting whetherinformation indicating a change in the data communication apparatusstatus has occurred is included in said response or not; and recognizingthe data communication apparatus status in accordance with a result ofthe detection.
 11. A process method according to claim 10 wherein astatus request command for requesting the transmission of information onthe data communication apparatus status is transmitted in accordancewith the result of the detection, information on the apparatus statustransmitted from said data communication apparatus is received inresponse to the status request command, and the data communicationapparatus status is recognized in accordance with the receivedinformation.
 12. A process method according to claim 10 wherein acommand is transmitted to said data communication apparatus inaccordance with a request from a terminal of a local area network.
 13. Aprocess method according to claim 11 wherein the data communicationapparatus status information is stored in a memory, and the datacommunication apparatus status is displayed in accordance with thestored status information.
 14. A process method according to claim 13wherein the status information of said memory is updated based on thereceived status information.
 15. A storage medium containing a programexecutable by a computer for transmitting a command to cause a datacommunication apparatus to execute a desired process and receiving aresponse indicating whether said command is acceptable by said datacommunication apparatus or not, comprising the steps of: detectingwhether information indicating a change in the data communicationapparatus status has occurred is included in said response or not; andrecognizing the data communication apparatus status in accordance with aresult of the detection.
 16. A storage medium according to claim 15further comprising the steps of: transmitting a status request commandfor requesting the transmission of information on the data communicationapparatus status in accordance with the result of the detection;receiving information on the apparatus status transmitted from said datacommunication apparatus in response to the status request command; andrecognizing the data communication apparatus status in accordance withthe received information.
 17. A storage medium according to claim 15further comprising the step of: transmitting a command to said datacommunication apparatus in accordance with a request from a terminal ofa local area network.
 18. A storage medium according to claim 15 furthercomprising the step of: storing the data communication apparatus statusinformation in a memory, and displaying the data communication apparatusstatus in accordance with the stored status information.
 19. A storagemedium according to claim 18 further comprising the step of: updatingthe status information of said memory based on the received statusinformation.